


Only the Beginning: How Preston & Logan Created Jem and the Holograms

by PhiladelphiaBurke



Category: Bill & Ted (Movies)
Genre: Billie is non-binary, Easter eggs ahoy, Everyone's in disguise, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Gen, Grom is a modern woman, Ling Lun's daughter, Queerplatonic Billie and Thea, Queerplatonic Relationships, Thea is Trans, Tooth-rottingly wholesome, Trans Female Character, You don't need to know Jem, non-binary Billie Logan, sort of a crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27637613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhiladelphiaBurke/pseuds/PhiladelphiaBurke
Summary: YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS- it's a disguise created by Billie and Thea. But if you know it, that's even better!Billie and Thea want to become great musicians in their own right, so their newest band- featuring Grom and Ling Lun's daughter- boldly goes to a reality where no Logan or Preston has gone before. Can Kelly help them achieve their dreams, and can they keep up the disguise?
Relationships: Billie Logan & Thea Preston
Kudos: 3





	Only the Beginning: How Preston & Logan Created Jem and the Holograms

**Author's Note:**

> I am a big fan of the original 1980’s version of the cartoon “Jem and the Holograms”, and noticed there is an episode from January 1988 that features the fictional band traveling in time to meet Mozart AND Jimi Hendrix. My story is an attempt to explain this staggering coincidence. 
> 
> Multiple people in the fandom write Billie as non-binary in order to match the actor portraying the character. Some people also use the continuity of former Bill and Ted films vs “Face the Music” to interpret Billie and Thea as trans women. I decided to split the difference and write Billie as non-binary (although they will be taking on the persona of a female character, the way rock stars like David Bowie took on different personas) and Thea as a trans woman, so we’ll see how this goes. I am doing my best to be respectful of both groups, as a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community and someone whose friends and loved ones include trans and non-binary people.  
> (Also, technically, in the Jem episode (https://www.rockjem.com/episode52.html) which predates the release of ALL Bill and Ted movies, Jimi is referred to as ‘Johnny Beldrix” but come on, it’s him.)  
> The Chinese name “Ji” is derived from Zhao Ji, the former Queen of China and mother of the first emperor of China, of the Qin dynasty. The book in which Ling Lun’s legend is recorded (the “Lüshi Chunqiu”) was ‘compiled under the patronage’ of a Quin Dynasty scholar, so that's why her daughter's name is Ji. I have tried to make the name respectful but if it's not, let me know and it can be changed.

“I’m really nervous, dude,” Billie said, holding up the thumb drive.

“We both are,” Thea mumbled.

“Why should you two be nervous?” Kelly said. “You already created the greatest band in human history, and wrote a song that saved the entire universe. What do you have left to prove?” She held out her hand and her friend gave her the thumb drive. Kelly looked the younger Logan and Preston over. It seemed like things in the future had finally quieted down since the debut of the legendary song ‘Face the Music’- even her own mother had loosened up a lot. But Billie and Thea hadn’t slowed down one bit since their triumph. This album had take up all their time for the past several months.

“But our first album is like, totally personal and it’s all about how we did that,” said Thea. “That’s why we want you to hear it first, even though it’s majorly raw.” She gave Kelly a shy smile. “And track 5 is all about how bodacious you are, Kelly.”

“Aw, you guys!” Kelly said. “I’m really glad you decided to take the trip back with me. It wouldn’t be the same here without you.”

“No way it wouldn’t’!” Billie said. “Thanks for letting the band crash here, by the way. I think your mom was kinda tired of us staying at her house.”

Kelly hid a smile- after the big debut of “Face the Music”, the Logan and Preston families (and everyone else in Billie and Thea’s supergroup) had been honored by the Great Leader as heroes and saviors. There was a huge multi-day celebration, bestowing every one of the contributors with the highest awards in the land. Naturally, the two songwriters were among the most esteemed of the bunch, and had been invited into the Great Leader’s home as guests.

But two days into Billie and Thea’s stay, Kelly’s mother, Brenda, had angrily called her up to say: “Those two have been having one big slumber party since last night! I’ve never heard such ungodly noises in my entire life! You have to come and get them!”

“Mom, it couldn’t possibly be that bad,” Kelly said, lowering the volume on her hologram call. “What are they doing?”

“They’re playing VERY LOUD JAZZ MUSIC and laying new drum parts over it….which means they’re banging on everything in the house while they play music on their ancient cellular devices,” said Brenda. “This is making our family legacy into a joke! You brought them here, do something!”

“Okaaaay, Mom,” Kelly sighed. When she came to pick Billie and Thea up, the duo explained that Grom, their drummer, was teaching herself about jazz drumming but she had already mastered the basics. So they had wanted to help their friend out by coming up with some ‘most righteously sick beats’…much to the chargrin of the Great Leader. Thanks to Kelly’s personal time machine, when the duo moved into her house, they were able to call on their former bandmates anytime they wanted. Jimi ended up preferring life in the future so much that in order to preserve his timeline, he faked his own death and decided to permanently move into a house not far from Kelly’s. He was now off re-invigorating his solo career, but always willing to answer any questions the band had, along with playing on the album version of ‘Face the Music.”

“We want you to be our manager, Kelly,” Grom said, startling Kelly out of her reverie. Kelly was still amazed at how quickly the band’s eldest member was adjusting to life in the future, right down to her modern clothes. Death, Louis and Mozart had all chosen to go back home. Grom had learned about all the problems of life in the many centuries before Kelly’s, and decided, like Jimi, to remain in the future. Ling Lun was also tired of scholars not admitting she was a woman, and brought her daughter Ling Ji with her to the future. Currently, Lun was working as a lecturer and educator on world music, and she, Grom and Ji were steadily becoming fluent in English while Billie and Thea learned more of their languages.

“Me?” Kelly asked. “I don’t really know much about marketing-”

“You got me bass lessons from Geddy Lee,” Ji said, continuing to tune her guitar. “So you have nothing to prove, also!”

“Well, you taught him how to play the flute,” Kelly reminded her. “You sure didn’t need my help then. My mom always said I wasn’t good at thinking things through, so maybe I can help you meet someone else….”

“But that’s totally it, dude,” Billie said excitedly. “Much as we love our dads, we want people to appreciate our music, not just our names. The girls and me were hopin’ you could take us to another timeline, where we’d be anonymous. Then any praise we get would be most triumphantly justified!”

“Nepotism is most heinous,” Thea agreed.

Kelly thought about this for a minute. She had always wanted to be appreciated for herself, as much as she loved her late father. “I reach you, Billie. Let me see what I can come up with. Only my mom’s tech would be able to scan that many universes- you and your parents are in TONS of them.” She pressed a button on her bracelet and said, “Hey Dennis, can you come in for a minute? The band has a question for you.”

“Here I am,” the robot said cheerfully, running into the room in his awkward way. Dennis, having nowhere else to go after his mission failed, had asked if he could earn his keep by being Kelly’s personal AI. Unlike the average homeowner in her time, Kelly didn’t have an electronic system controlling her house: it was Dennis who cleaned the rooms, controlled her entertainment and appliances, and cooked meals in exchange for money in the World Creditnet system, electrical power, and a safe place to live. “The brownies are almost done.” He wasn’t a great chef, so Thea (who was self-taught, as her parents hadn’t been good chefs) was currently teaching him how to cook.

“Dude, you did the thing with the toothpick like I showed you, right?” Thea asked. Dennis nodded, but Kelly waved him over. “Can you show me the Great Leader’s AUMD?” she asked.

“What’s that stand for?” Ji asked, putting her bass down.

“Alternate Universe Mapping Database,” Billie said. They were using a silver sharpie marker to give Grom a tattoo of a treble clef on her ankle. “It shows millions of the alternate universes that are super close to us, but there’s way way more.”

“This won’t…undo everything that happened, right?” Dennis said, looking around warily. “Your mother would be so disappointed.”

“Dennis, just stop,” Kelly sighed. “Give me your hand and bring the maps up.” He obeyed and Kelly touched the projected maps with her fingers, scrolling through different universes and seeing random images of what they looked like.

“We need one where nobody’s ever heard of our dads,” Thea said with a note of sadness.

“But you love your fathers,” Dennis said.

“It’s the only way we’ll get to be good on our own,” she explained. “And what about Ji, her mom is a total legend too!”  
“That’s why I don’t play the flute anymore,” Ji reminded Dennis.

“Make sure it’s a reality where Ji and I don’t have to be looking over our shoulders every minute,” Grom said softly.

“Don’t worry, we reach you,” Kelly told her.

“You’re a self-made drummer, most excellent Grom,” Thea said, hi-fiving her. “We would stand with you in any reality.”

“Whoa, look at that one!” Billie crowed, pointing to an image flying by. “Our dads look like cartoons! I wanna go there, it looks totally fun.”

“No, your fathers are still too well-known there,” Kelly said. Her hand rested on the image and it remained suspended above their heads, a vast field of stars with video clips shooting out at random. “Wait a minute…I found one not too far from the cartoon reality. Earth 27b/6. Yeah, in this reality…wow no wonder it’s close to the cartoon one. Ok, so in this reality, a lot of works of fiction are real, and real people, including your parents, are just fictional. You two never even existed,” she said, scrolling through all hits for “Bill and Ted” on that database page. “Your dads were characters on a failed sitcom.”

“That’s most uncanny,” Billie said. “Wow, there’s so much crazy stuff that’s real in that world! Ninja Turtles….Thomas the Tank Engine?”

“Is it normal for trains to have faces?” Grom asked. Thea was about to answer, but Grom shook her head, the purple streaks in her long braids lit up by the projected stars. “Never mind. Based on the readings, this reality seems…safe, but I would like to look over them when I have more time. Ji, do you agree?”

“Let’s try it,” their bassist said. “It would be exciting to go somewhere new. Maybe they have music no one here has ever invented!”

“Kelly, tell us if you think the album’s ready!” Thea said, springing to her feet and practically skipping with excitement. “Maybe we could get Cudi to come with! He’d be totally down for it!”

“I know he’s your producer, but I’m not sure if he’s willing to step out of his own time and….” She sighed, seeing how expectant the band was. Even Kevin looked excited. She couldn't disappoint the best friends she'd ever had, and they' d already done so much good in the world. What would her father have told her to do, if she could ask him for advice? Kelly picked up the thumb drive from its place on the chair beside her and stared at it thoughtfully. “Ok, we have some decisions to make. But before we do anything, I want to listen to these songs.”


End file.
